Felipe’s summer 2004 nuptials will be groundbreaking in more ways than one. Letizia is the first commoner – and the first divorcée – to become a Spanish crown prince's bride. Nearly 100 years have passed since the last Prince of Asturias tied the knot. Alfonso XIII wed British princess Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg, niece of Edward VII, on May 31, 1906.

Spain's monarchy was suppressed during the four-decade rule of General Franco, meaning Felipe's exiled grandfather, Don Juan de Borbon, never acceded to the throne. Felipe only became crown prince in 1975 when his father, Juan Carlos – who wed Princess Sofia of Greece 13 years earlier in Athens – was proclaimed king after Franco's death.

It's also been nearly a century since the capital celebrated a royal wedding, as the prince's siblings, Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina, married in Seville and Barcelona, respectively. Felipe and Letizia’s nuptials will also be a royal first for Madrid's Almudena cathedral, consecrated by the Pope in 1993.